IGD has launched a new report, titled ‘Packaging: Which Supermarket Categories Have the Biggest Opportunities for Action?’, as part of the shared Food and Consumer Goods industry’s goal to halve the environmental impact of the UK packaging system by 2030. The report is designed to assist industry stakeholders in identifying actionable opportunities and redirecting their sustainability efforts towards packaging solutions that have a positive impact. It highlights the importance of examining products and packaging categories with high environmental impact to achieve industry goals. The report found that beer, wine, spirits, non-alcoholic drinks, dairy, and sauces accounted for 50% of all supermarket packaging impacts, while meat, fish, and canned products and toiletries, cosmetics, and cleaning products accounted for 11% and 9% respectively. The report measured each category score on four environmental indicators, including climate change, land use, water use, and virgin resource use.
Mark Little, Director of Sustainability Programmes at IGD, stated that the report’s insights could help businesses target their actions and drive positive changes to meet the industry’s ambitious environmental goals. IGD also created a free online tool, ‘How to make sustainable packaging choices: an interactive tool,’ that guides users through a series of questions to integrate sustainability into grocery packaging decision-making using lifecycle thinking. Both the supermarket heatmap report and interactive tools signify the next phase of IGD’s sustainable packaging initiative, following the launch of ‘Halving The Environmental Impact of The UK Packaging System’ last year. For more information, please contact sustainability@igd.com.